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Monday, 6 February 2017

Review - 'Arrow', S05E11 - 'Second Chances'

A frustratingly common
trend for me, when watching these sort of shows, is the way in which
wishful thinking can lead to disappointment. There have been many
moments, both in this series and in others, in which I thought that I
knew where a story was headed, or where I formed an idea of where I
actually wanted it to go, only for the writers to take things in
another direction, entirely. That's not so bad when the writers'
decision actually turns out to be for the best, of course – but, in
this moments where I quietly cling to the belief that my way would
have been better, it can be frustrating.

I'm sure that's a
common enough experience for many fans, though. The only reason why I
even bring it up, here, is due to the fact that it very accurately
explains how I feel about this episode. With Black Siren (Laurel
Lance's evil, Earth-2, double) making her first appearance on Arrow
in the previous episode, I had thought that we might be seeing the
series about to launch into a very interesting redemptive arc that
would have seen Katie Cassidy officially brought back into the
series, in an entirely new role – with the reformed villain
possibly even taking up the 'Black Canary' mantle, in the end. Given
how poorly handled I have always found the original, and recently
murdered, Laurel Lance to be, it was a potential development that I
was cautiously optimistic about.

Even
with her apparent commitment to playing the 'villain', along with her
capture, in the previous episode, it still felt as though the
possibility wasn't entirely off the table. It just felt as though it
might take longer to get to that point. But, of course, with this
episode officially shifting its focus away from Black Siren, and onto
an entirely new character who Oliver intends to recruit as the new
'Black Canary', it seems as though I have no other choice but to put
set aside my own preferences.

It
is certainly a strange thing to have to admit that my main issue with
this episode, in the end, is the simple fact that it the story that I
wanted it to be – but, that's exactly where I find myself. Setting
aside the fact that I would really much rather see some more of Katie
Cassidy as Black Siren, I do have to admit that the episode is
quickly able to establish Tina Boland (Juliana Harkavy) into a
potentially fascinating figure.

Her
suitably tragic back-story definitely fits with the tone of Arrow,
at least. As we learn in the opening scene, Tina is an ex-cop in
Central City who, like so many others, found herself caught up in the
particle accelerator explosion which set the first season of The
Flash in motion. Gifted with her
own (incredibly convenient) sonic-scream ability, Tina has spent the
past few years hunting the man who killed her former partner – a
man who, of course, has also inherited his own meta-human abilities.

While
Sean Sonus (Steve Bacic) isn't a terribly compelling figure (he's
much too similar to the sort of 'aspiring crime-lord' characters we
have often seen, in the past), the combination of his abilities, and
the resources her has at his disposal do, at least, make him a
credible threat. With Tina obviously in over her head, but very
reluctant to accept the aid of the costumed trio who have arrived in
Hub City to recruit her, Oliver is left with little choice but to
practically force himself into the middle of this tense
confrontation.

It's
a situation which certainly provides the audience with some great
moments. There's some great moments of character drama between Oliver
and Tina (whose real name, we later learn, is actually Dinah Drake –
a name which should be familiar to fans of the comics) – which,
while covering very familiar ground, is still well-played by Stephen
Amell and Juliana Harkavy). Then, there's the various moments of
action throughout the episode, all culminating in visually impressive
roof-top battle that even sees Oliver taking on a helicopter with his
trusty bow and arrows. In short, the episode's primary plot-arc
provides a good mix of drama and action which has me somewhat hopeful
that this new character could go on to become a worthwhile member of
the team. Now, I just have to hope that the series does actually find
some worthwhile way to use Black Siren, before the end of the season
(if she is set on being a villain, than maybe she could join the
Legion of Doom).

Along
with this, we also have some genuinely great developments in this
season's 'flash-back' story-line, as Oliver finds himself working
with Talia al Ghul. Not only did this sub-plot provide us with some
more great moments of well-staged action, but Lexa Doig also managed
to quickly prove herself to be more than capable of playing such a
well-known character. There was a definite edge of danger to her,
despite her overall calm demeanour, that made her time on-screen
especially compelling. Oliver's adventures with the Russian mob had
been somewhat interesting, over the course of the season – but, I
have already found myself much more interested in whatever it is that
Talia al Ghul might have planned for Oliver.

As
entertaining as the season's eleventh episode did ultimately prove to
be, though, I do have to admit that there were a couple of other
aspects that bothered me. For one thing, while that roof-top
confrontation was entertaining, there was something a bit off about
Oliver launching into an argument regarding the morality of killing
the episode's primary villain only moments after we had just watched
them, seemingly, slaughter an impressively large group of henchmen.
This is not the first time that Arrow
has fallen into this odd brand of 'video game' logic (where only the
lives of important characters actually matter), of course, but it
felt particularly conspicuous, here.

Also,
as important as a think it is for Felicity to have a story-line of
her own for the rest of the season, I can't help but find that I am
already a little bored by her potential return to 'hacktivism'. On a
similar note, the ease with which Felicity's new hacktivist contacts
allowed her to resolve Diggle's current problems felt incredibly
lazy, to me – especially since I had genuinely enjoyed the sub-plot
that Diggle and Adrian Chase had shared, in the previous episode.